Robot-Assisted Needle Alignment with Image-Guided Teleoperated Needle Insertion for Prostate Cancer Interventions

Gregory Scott Fischer¹, Weijian Shang¹, Hao Su¹

Intraoperative high-field MR imaging provides visualization of critical structures, but the ability to use that information to guide a surgical intervention is limited due to physical constraints of operating inside the scanner bore. For prostate cancer, the gold standard for diagnosis is biopsy and a common approach to treatment of localized cancer is brachytherapy seed placement both typically performed using an alignment template. We have developed a robotic assistant that aligns the biopsy and brachytherapy needle based on interactive imaging, improving upon standard technique with greater placement precision and interactively updated MR imaging. To maintain control while significantly improving ergonomics, the physician stands beside the patient viewing real-time MR images aligned with the scan plane and inserts the needle using an MR-compatible master device that the robot mimics.